Moto X: custom design your own phone, skip the store

It's getting hard to differentiate phones these days. Motorola is hoping to change the shopping experience in a small but significant way to make an impression. You can, too, by taking part in the design of your own Moto X phone.

You can bypass the dreaded phone store and go to MotoMaker to customize and order your own phone. Color, texture, and even a wooden back option for your phone.

Does it sound a little gimmicky, perhaps. It also takes a few days before your custom phone ships. So, it's hard to see where the long term appeal is to a consumer. The typical phone buyer is standing in line at an AT&T store waiting to talk to someone who may, or may not, know much about phones or the plans on offer, but will gladly take at least 45 minutes to get you through the door while threatening to hold your family hostage if you don't commit to a two year plan. Period.

However, Anandtech - there's a place to get nostalgic about for us PC building geezers - had this to say about the MotoMaker experience:

The purchase experience is something that we rarely talk about in our reviews, but it does play a major role in customer satisfaction. I feel like Moto Maker is a successful attempt to improve the smartphone purchasing process. The customization options are easy to get excited about, and the overall experience is without equal in the phone space today. Given how personal these smartphones are, the customization play with Moto Maker is clearly very well thought out. As we've seen in the past though, personalization alone isn't enough to make for a successful product. Stay tuned for our full review of the Moto X.

The MotoMaking process does require some pre-registeration and a redemption card, and just now, we saw this on the DesignIt part of the site.

It sounds more like you can get a lot more choice in colors and designs, but Motorola just wants to control the inventory by buying time through customization. But I get paid by the article so, this is important shnizzle. The MotoMaker video kind of gives you the whole of it. :